Island



PATENTED NOV. l, 1864. L. TOWNE.

CHAIN FOR ORNAMENTS.

. shown in Fig. 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAURISTON TOWNE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT ,IN CHAINS FOR ORNAMENTS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,899, dated November 1, 1864 taken in connection with the drawings makinga part of the same, is afull, clear, andl exact description thereof.

Figure 1 is a view ofthe link before the arms have been bent. Fig. 2 is a view of the same link with thearms lbent at right angles. Fig. 3is a View ottwo links', the arms of the under one being clasped upon the body of the upper one, whose arms .are in the position Fig. 4 is a view of the chain complete;

. rlhe ornamental chain, which is the subject of' this patent, beloiig's'to thatclass where,'afsin the so-called Adelaide chain described in the Letters Patent granted to me i'ora machine for making the same, dated March 13, 1860, the several ,links are woven or are mechanically held t gether without the aid of solder, and its novelty results not from the manner by which the successive links are united so as to form a chain, but from the peculiar fashion and structureof the link itsell". is shown plainly in Fig. 1, which represents the link as it appears when cut from the thin sheet ot' metal of which it is made. It is not, as will be observed, a figure with arms equidistant, as in the case of all other woven chains, so that the arms of each succeeding link can interlock with the arms of the preceding one without reversing it or changing itI end t'or end, but it is a figure the long sides of which are similar and the short sides or ends are dissimilar. lt is this dissimilarity ybetween the opposite sides 0r ends, and not the fact that there is an uneven number of arms, which makes it a necessity that each alternate -link in the process of building up the chain should be reversed, so that the arms of the one will cover the spaces between the arms in the other. It will be readily understood that all chains of this class, which are made up from links having equidistant arms, must of neccssily have a crosssection which is a circle or a regular polygon.

As I desire to produce a chain the diameter oi' which in one direction shall be greater than h 'luis peculinrity of form and structurel in the other, I am obliged to place the long sides of each succeeding link over the similar sides of the preceding one, and cannot, as in the other cases, produce the chain by simply placing the arms of the second relatively to the arms of the first at an angle equal to a circle divided by the number of arms which the link may have.' I take anumber of links, each of which is of thin metal suitable for the purpose, and such as is well known to manufacturing jewelers, and of the form shown in Fig. 1. Suppose the arms a a a to have been bent at right angles to the body, as shown in Fig. 2, the base will make an eightsided iigure, with' one diameter longer than the other. A second link is then placed over the rst, but with reference to it, changed end for end, so that the arms of the latter will interlock with the armsot' the rst. The arms of the latter .link are then bentat right angles to the body, as in the case of Fig..2, and the arms of the'iirst link arebent down so as to clasp the body of the second. In this way, by successive links, each being placed and held in the way described,the chain is made. The end of each' arm is furnished with a cross-bar, as in the case of the link for Adelaide chain, the object of which is, as in that' case, to give increased strength to the chain by the ends of the bars bearing against the arms of the snc- -ceeding link, with which they interlock. The

chain which results from the process described is represented at Fig. 4, and is not only extremely pleasing to the eye-its outline being regular, While the long sides are broken midway by the joint formed by the interlocking arms and relieve it from the appearance ot stiffness-but is also adapted to ornamental uses such as for bracelets and fob-chains, for which a round or regular 4polygonal chain would be less suitable-and is not inferior in strength to chains of the same weight and metal made by any process which is in use.

What I claim asmy invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- The improved ornamental-chain shown'and described, when composed of links of the form and structure substantially as herein specified.

LAUaIsroN Towns. 

